Anyone have one of these Bus Bars to power their winch?

TJW

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2021
Messages
31
Location
ontario, Canada
Hi,
I have a strange looking bus bar with 3 - 50amp ganged circuit breakers on the positive battery post. This is to power the winch shown below. I do not see any specs on the winch to know if this is what I really need to protect the winch from drawing too much current. Anyone had any experience with this kind of hook up?
I don't see a make or model on the winch. When I used the winch to pull me out of a self dug mud hole (nobody told me never go through a mud hole in 4WD low-first gear, or you'll dig yourself a monster hole,,, I did just that!). Ok back to the event, the winch stalled a few times and I had to bypass the circuit breakers to get a constant pull. It pulled me out with little effort. I later found the connections on the ganged circuit breakers to be loose. I removed them all, cleaned and tightened them, but have not had a chance to test the 'cleaned and tightened' connections yet.
So, anyone seen this setup before?

Thanks

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I have the same set up on my Superwinch SR 9500 ST and the 5000# winch on one of my car haulers. The 8000# winch on my other car hauler is connected straight to the battery when I need it. I have not used the Superwinch yet but I’ve had no issues with the 5000# winch I have not needed it at max pull. Superwinch says 340 amps @ max pull. I think I’ll try it out tomorrow and see how the setup works.

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You need 300 to 400 amps for a 10k pound winch. Three 50A breakers in parallel aren’t going to cut it.
Ok, Thanks,, so for now a direct connection to the battery may be best. So is there a big risk in damage in a direct connection? If so, what would you suggest?
 
Friend has a badlands winch with the same crap...it’s a cheap setup, but it will work, for a while anyway.
 
Do you only connect your starter motor to the battery when you plan to use it? ;) Keep in mind the motor inside a winch is essentially nothing more than a repurposed starter motor.
Jerry, yes, I only connect it when I plan or have to use it when I get myself in a situation where I need to be yanked out. :) .
 
Do you only connect your starter motor to the battery when you plan to use it? ;) Keep in mind the motor inside a winch is essentially nothing more than a repurposed starter motor.
The starter is wired and fused by the factory in accordance to design by engineers. My winch was wired by a rank amateur who used the easy way not necessarily the right way.🤓